The Bridge - Episode 1.09 - The Beetle - Advance Review

     This week's episode of The Bridge starts off with a prolonged scene displaying the anguish that David Tate felt when he learned about (well actually walked upon) his wife and son's car accident. While I think this scene went on for a bit too long, it also displayed how Tate used to be a good person. His grief and anger towards Marco has led him down this path that can only be described as bloodthirsty. While it is sad to view David Tate's life from happy family man to serial killer, I think its obvious he has crossed the bridge (pun intended) to insanity.

    A switch over to checkup on the adventures of Charlotte and Ray reveals a disagreement that will only end in disaster. In the last episode, Graciela's henchmen discovered that the weapons that Ray had shipped them had been bugged. We know that Tim placed them, but no one else does. While Charlotte is still annoyed with Ray for bringing Tim onto her ranch in the first place, she would do better to worry about the retaliation of Graciela and the rest of the cartel. Just be sure to watch out for the faithful Cesar in this episode!

     Meanwhile, Marco is going through absolute hell. He just found out that he is, in some way, responsible for the creation of the Bridge Butcher. While not directly responsible, he was the man that David's late wife was sleeping when she died. As a result, Tate (The Butcher) clearly blames him for this loss.

     Linder returns for more of a presence than he had in the last episode, but still not a very centric role. He visits the ranch in the middle of nowhere, to talk with the father of Benjamin Linus. From a Lost fan's point of view, I don't care what role he's in, he's still Ben's Dad. Linder is having some rather odd dreams about the menacing Cartel member that he can't seem to stay away from and is clearly troubled. Hopefully, this story line will come to some sort of a climax in the coming episodes. Linder's role while still interesting, has grown a bit stale for me, because it just takes so much time away from the Bridge Butcher. I'm sure the writers will find a way to heat this story up.

     This episode is similar in structure to the last. It takes a while for it to heat up, but once it does, it makes for great TV. The last scene of the episode is a major cliffhanger and while I won't reveal it directly, I wouldn't get too comfortable with the current cast. No one is safe.

Rating: 9.2/10

Tune in to The Bridge on Wednesday @ 10/9c on FX Network. Be sure to come back here to SpoilerTV to let everyone else know what you thought of the episode.